Shear Behavior and Performance of Deep Beams Reinforced with a Honeycomb Steel Mesh

Abstract

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the structural behavior and performance of deep beams reinforced in shear with a honeycomb steel mesh (HSM). A series of four-point loading tests on five simply supported deep beams were carried out. The control beam was substantially deficient in shear strength, another beam was fully reinforced in shear by stirrups, and four other beams were reinforced with various configurations of HSM. The primary variables were the diagonal cell width and welding condition of the HSM. The shear behavior and performance of deep beams reinforced with various configurations of HSM were compared with those of the control beam and the beam reinforced in shear by stirrups. In this study, all of the tested deep beams failed in shear. Crack patterns and failure modes of the specimens were explained on the basis of the arch action. It was found from the test results that HSM was effective in reinforcing deep beams in shear. Further, the butt- welded HSM with a diagonal cell width of 100 mm was shown to be most effective in terms of stiffness, load carrying, and energy absorption capacities.